2026 SSW Solstice For Real: Land Back Panel
After the Land Back walk, gather from 2-4 PM in the Neilson Library Reading Room for a panel discussion with SSW Adjunct Professor Chelsey Branham, Jus Crea Giammarino, ND, M. Barney, and Lushanya Echeverria, Ed.D, local Indigenous storytellers, dancers, land stewards and medicine keepers to honor the summer solstice and its importance to the land, ceremony and culture. Learn about local land back projects.
A light lunch catered by Masa Mexicano will be served from noon - 1:45 PM.
Presenter bios:
Panelist: Jus Crea Giammarino, ND
Raised with her Penobscot culture and Native American spiritual practices, Jus Crea Giammarino, ND realized the healing powers of nature at a young age. She received a certificate in herbal therapeutics and attended the Rocky Mountain Center for Botanical Studies. She received a bachelors of science from UMass Amherst in ethnobotany and holistic health, graduating magna cum laude from the Honors College. Here she also received a certificate in Native American studies as well as completing premedical coursework. She went on to receive a doctorate in naturopathic medicine from the University of Bridgeport, College of Naturopathic Medicine graduating at the top of her class earning the award for academic excellence in naturopathic medicine. She completed an advanced externship in pediatrics, women’s health, and family medicine as well as receiving advanced training in Sankaran Homeopathy. She became an acupuncture detoxification specialist at the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Hospital in Bronx, NY and a certified practitioner in WTS Therapy.
Jus Crea has lectured extensively on Native American herbology and leads ethnobotanical tours. She teaches Native American cultures, histories and traditions. Previously she taught nutrition at Springfield College and was a primary care physician in Brattleboro, VT. Currently Giammarino practices Naturopathic Medicine in Springfield, MA treating people of all ages.
Panelist: Lushanya Echeverria, Ed.D.
Lushanya Echeverria, Ed.D. is a professional educator, alternative practitioner and spiritual teacher. Her research focuses on connection and learning using Indigenous storytelling. Her work is based in trauma-theory and the lifelong psychological effects called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Echeverria's current research focuses on dissociative disorder caused by acute and chronic childhood boundary erosion. She is a trauma worker helping individuals heal deep-rooted psychological effects of present and intergenerational trauma.
Echeverria specializes in organizational development to cultivate cultures of connection using Indigenous practice and pedagogy. She is the executive director of Kunsi Keya Tamakoce, a spiritual retreat center sharing the practices, beliefs and ceremonies of her matriarchal Lakota heritage. The mission of Kunsi Keya Tamakoce is to connect community members to the earth and share teachings on how to live in balance and harmony with Mother Earth.
Alongside her mother, Beverly Littlethunder, Echeverria engages intergenerational teachings through spiritual connection, community development, sustainable land practice and leadership development.
Moderator: Hon. Chelsey Branham
Hon. Chelsey Branham (they/she) (Chickasaw/Cherokee/Choctaw) is an Indigenous futurist, community architect, creative, policy-wonk and executive consultant. They are the CEO of One Whole Village Consulting, LLC and a partner at Think Again Training and Consulting. She specializes in transformational equity in public administration, public policy, and economic development, with over 18 years of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As an Indigenous person and a leader in equitable transformation (ET), they have always sought out collective, community-based perspectives to find innovative solutions to systemic issues.
Transforming systems through policy improvement and development has been a huge priority in Branham’s career, as both a state legislator and a consultant. She has also spent considerable time in grassroots advocacy, community mobilization, and campaign management. Much of their work centers on building bridges between communities and creating capacity and access to resources for communities of color. Their work has taken them through the intersections of economic, climate, food, housing, health and education justices, as well as intimate partner violence prevention and harm reduction.
At Smith College School for Social Work, Branham serves as an adjunct professor of Indigenous Social Welfare and Public Policy, Decolonizing and Indigenizing Research Practices, Program Evaluation from Indigenous and Black Feminist perspectives, Community-Based Anti-Racism Experience and more. Branham earned their B.A. in psychology and religious studies, and their M.A. in international economics and development from the University of Oklahoma.